All praise to God I managed to perform my Umrah yesterday. I will share more photos and information on this as it was such an amazing spiritual activity but also an interesting human experience. Unfortunately Hilton let me down with their internet connection as it is extremely poor. I can’t upload many videos or photos as it takes absolutely ages and literally each photo in this post takes atleast 20 minutes or so to upload. But I will share as much as I can whilst I am here and inshaAllah (God willing) and all the photos once I get faster stable internet. My head is buzzing with things I would like to share with you.
The most important things for me was to perform Umrah which has a massive reward and to show people that it is possible to do it under £300 and not a few thousand. My hotel is literally only 30 seconds walk from the entrance and 2 minutes from my room, depending on how fast the elevator comes. 🙂 So I can’t really complain on proximity to the mosque. It was THE BEST points redemption ever! Not only value wise but experience. It is why I love this hobby, makes it possible to experience things that otherwise would have been impossible. No way I would pay £250 per night for a room. Ok, maybe for a night but not a week.
Here is what it looks like once you get out of the hotel and into the Haram (mosque) courtyard. Basically our hotel and the courtyard are connected and it is one of the closest to the entrance.
Plus whoever said that New York is the city that never sleeps is totally wrong. Mekkah is literally the city that never sleeps. It is currently 5am and throughout the night it is still busy with people.
The clock tower. Taller than Big Ben for sure!
The view from the Clock tower food corner. They are expanding the mosque so it looks like a construction site too.
No post is complete without a photo of me
The view from the courtyard. Intercontinental & Hilton hotels & the Masjid Al Haram
Hilton Mekkah Towers & Hotel steps from the Masjid
The view from my room at prayer time. It was so busy!
The entrance to the mosque- King Fahad Gate
Some photos of the other site of the courtyard. Le Meridien Mekkah hotel in the far right corner.
People and many more people
Ric Garrido says
Fascinating photos of a place I will most probably never see in person.
Is this a trip you have made before?
Muslim Travel Girl says
Thank you Ric.
More to come soon :). It is my first time I have never been before so it is an interesting experience for me too.
Grad says
Awesome! Congrats! Can you please shed light on the redemption strategy you adopted. Did you redeem Hilton Honors for the hotel? Are there other Club Carlson or IHG Rewards or SPG redemption options close by?
Muslim Travel Girl says
Hi Grad. I am planning on sharing how I did it, even though I already have in the book umrahunder300.com. I did use Hilton Points for this redemption as it was very expensive per night so I consider this one of the best redemptions ever. IHG is there as well and Le Meridien ( you can see them on the photos above). They are possible for redemption too.